02-04-2011, 10:03 PM

We have used computers for awhile, but we're leery of the hackers online.
I know some people who think that hacking into someone's computer is perfectly ok, but I don't think that's true at all. It's an invasion of privacy.
We saw a forum, where one of the posters who liked to insult people there, said they can click on someone's nickname on the forum and view their ISP.
Now, I tried that, and it didn't work. We are on Macs, so maybe that's why.
Then we asked a friend who's pretty savvy on PCs, to go look at the same site, try clicking on someone's nickname and see if their ISP came up.
They said, "no way, nothing is coming up!" so, i'm pretty leery of hanging out on that site anymore.

I know for a fact there was a member there, who would post under his name, but always be insulted. I've read their posts and nothing seemed unpleasant, but they (the regular members of that forum) were always attacking and being verbally abusive to this poor man. He's changed his nic dozens of times, but still, somehow they always found out what nickname he changed it to, and started to attack him all over again.
I hate these sites where they claim they'll remove a post if it's inflammatory or insulting, but they never do! That just makes me furious!

That's a true bait & switch tactic.
Also, the same person who claimed to be able to find out your ISP by clickin on your name, said that they were running a business and showed their website address.
I clicked on it, and a strange message showed up on my computer that said, "The certificate for this website has expired. You might be connecting to a website that is pretending to be WWW.notrealname.com", which could put your confidential information at risk. Would you like to the connect to the website anyway?"

I'm shocked now, and don't trust this woman anymore. She's mean, she's violating the TOS over & over, she claims she can get your ISP by clickin on your name easily, and neither could a competent PC computer shop.

Do you think she's a hacker? I see she says that you don't need a paypal account to pay with paypal either, and that's not making sense to me either!

What do you think? How do you prevent hackers from getting into your computer, especially if you have a Mac?

02-04-2011, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by WinterCalm

We have used computers for awhile, but we're leery of the hackers online.
I know some people who think that hacking into someone's computer is perfectly ok, but I don't think that's true at all. It's an invasion of privacy.
We saw a forum, where one of the posters who liked to insult people there, said they can click on someone's nickname on the forum and view their ISP.
Now, I tried that, and it didn't work. We are on Macs, so maybe that's why.
Then we asked a friend who's pretty savvy on PCs, to go look at the same site, try clicking on someone's nickname and see if their ISP came up.
They said, "no way, nothing is coming up!" so, i'm pretty leery of hanging out on that site anymore.

Mods/Admins and site owners can see your IP and ISP information. No hacking required. It's part of connecting to a website. Ordinary members do not usually see this information, however.

I know for a fact there was a member there, who would post under his name, but always be insulted. I've read their posts and nothing seemed unpleasant, but they (the regular members of that forum) were always attacking and being verbally abusive to this poor man. He's changed his nic dozens of times, but still, somehow they always found out what nickname he changed it to, and started to attack him all over again.
I hate these sites where they claim they'll remove a post if it's inflammatory or insulting, but they never do! That just makes me furious!

That's a true bait & switch tactic.
Also, the same person who claimed to be able to find out your ISP by clickin on your name, said that they were running a business and showed their website address.
I clicked on it, and a strange message showed up on my computer that said, "The certificate for this website has expired. You might be connecting to a website that is pretending to be WWW.notrealname.com", which could put your confidential information at risk. Would you like to the connect to the website anyway?"

I'm shocked now, and don't trust this woman anymore. She's mean, she's violating the TOS over & over, she claims she can get your ISP by clickin on your name easily, and neither could a competent PC computer shop.

Do you think she's a hacker? I see she says that you don't need a paypal account to pay with paypal either, and that's not making sense to me either!

What do you think? How do you prevent hackers from getting into your computer, especially if you have a Mac?

I think she's a full of baloney, or she knows one of the forum mods/admins and is being fed information. And that's coming from someone who is an IT professional with decades of experience in network administration, not an anonymous poster on a forum.

And just because someone can see your public IP, doesn't give them access to your machine. Most modems act as a NAT firewall at a minimum. But even if you could get past that, Windows is firewalled by default and OS X doesn't respond on any well known ports, nor does it have any vulnerabilities that would leave it open to a hacker (providing that it's up to date on patches). So, in effect, someone knowing your public IP doesn't make you vulnerable to hackers (although it does degrade your anonymity to an extent).

Regardless, this isn't a suggestion or feedback about this forum, so I've moved the post appropriately.

02-04-2011, 10:57 PM

she can get our ISP. what kind of info does having someone's IP address, or ISP they called it, give them anyway?

I've read they can somehow get your home addy from the IP addy! That's spooky to me!

Is that true Moderator?
We don't know these people at all, and I don't want strangers who violate others rights on a website that supposedly don't allowing flaming to get our address either.
Boy, that other guy was put thru the wars by these trolls (people who insult others on the web) on that site. they even knew his home address, his name, etc, but I had heard they once met up IRL.
I don't know, but when we tried to post under another name, and just a topic, that was pleasant and wasn't directed toward anyone at all, somehow they found out it was us!

We have reported them many times to the moderator, but I still see all the hateful posts we have complained about on there! I do think they are friends with the moderator.
It's been so so stressful to deal with these people, period, but I sure don't want someone like that, getting our home address or anything like that.
Is there a good security program for Mac users we can get? I'm starting to feel in fear of getting on the web at all, after this experience with that website, to be honest.

02-04-2011, 11:04 PM

who are not registered, cannot see your posts? Sorry, not trying to offend anyone, but I'm getting leery of people who are following others around on the net, (stalking).

I'd prefer to be on a site where you couldn't see someone's posts, unless you were registered. Do you know of any? Good ones i mean, non-flaming ones, like this one here.

02-04-2011, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by WinterCalm

she can get our ISP. what kind of info does having someone's IP address, or ISP they called it, give them anyway?

Your IP address and your ISP are two different things. Your IP identifies you (relatively anonymously) on the Internet. Your ISP, or Internet Service Provider, is the company you contract with for Internet service. They provide you with the IP and typically keep record of what IP is assigned to a specific customer. That information isn't publicly available, but it is possible for an entity to subpoena an ISP to obtain that information if they have legal reason to do so. But neither bit of info really gives a would-be hacker much to go on.

I've read they can somehow get your home addy from the IP addy! That's spooky to me!

If you've done something illegal, it is certainly possible to use the legal system to get that kind of information - but no, it's not something just any old person can get.

Is that true Moderator?
We don't know these people at all, and I don't want strangers who violate others rights on a website that supposedly don't allowing flaming to get our address either.
Boy, that other guy was put thru the wars by these trolls (people who insult others on the web) on that site. they even knew his home address, his name, etc, but I had heard they once met up IRL.
I don't know, but when we tried to post under another name, and just a topic, that was pleasant and wasn't directed toward anyone at all, somehow they found out it was us!

We have reported them many times to the moderator, but I still see all the hateful posts we have complained about on there! I do think they are friends with the moderator.
It's been so so stressful to deal with these people, period, but I sure don't want someone like that, getting our home address or anything like that.
Is there a good security program for Mac users we can get? I'm starting to feel in fear of getting on the web at all, after this experience with that website, to be honest.

I'm sorry to hear that you've had such a bad experience with another forum. Forums are privately owned, and each one has its own rules and tone. If you don't like one in particular, your best recourse is to stop using it. You have no legal rights to use the forum or otherwise be protected from the shenanigans of its members or staff.

My recommendation to you would be to just stop visiting that community. It doesn't sound like they do a good job of enforcing their own codes of conduct. Anti-Virus/Spware and Firewall software won't prevent your public IP from being disclosed.